Walmart Way focus of intersection project

Published 11:29 am Thursday, July 24, 2014

SOUTH POINT — Correcting the accident-prone intersection of the most traveled road in Lawrence County is underway.

About a week ago the county engineer’s office was notified by the Ohio Department of Transportation’s Office of Jobs and Commerce that the county would receive $150,000 for the design of intersection improvement of County Road 410 or Walmart Way and Township Road 1012.

“This is important because in the period between 2009 and 2011 there were 21 accidents in that segment of the roadway,” Doug Cade, county engineer said. “That is the most traveled road in the county road highway system.”

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On average 9,800 vehicles a day are on that roadway. Now the engineer’s office wants to reach out to the businesses in that area to get their input before the design process begins.

“We are going to look at multiple options on how we can improve traffic flow,” Cade said. “We want to make sure we do not hinder flow of traffic to and from businesses. We don’t know if the solution is a traffic light or a lane widening.”

Today the county and ODOT will enter in an agreement and when that paperwork is completed the engineer’s office will begin looking for a consultant.

“Once we have a design we hopefully will know what the cost will be,” Cade said. “We are in the process of procuring other federal and safety funding for this project.”